Impasse on election law

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Parliament failed Wednesday to reach agreement on a new election law, asked a little-used national political council to resolve the impasse and adjourned until Sunday.

The speaker of the Parliament, Ayad al-Samarraie, said lawmakers remained deadlocked over how January's scheduled parliamentary elections should be conducted in oil-rich northern Kirkuk province. The impasse, over how the largely Kurdish province should be represented in the Parliament, could delay the elections and the Obama administration's plan to accelerate a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.